Painful Healing

 

                            Illi ut Partis, Agnosco

For those that share, Understand

Bring on the day as it is any other, 

with graceless movement and bickers with another.

The storm awaits without a cloud in the sky

A faithful friend is frightened and scared. Something is wrong.

Initial shock has forgone your soul, yet feelings are dull. 

First instinct now is to dive in and salvage remnants,

but nothing concrete remains; except that terrible irony. 

Some cry, some laugh. All hurt deep within.

Only those that have shared understand.

Nothing is more thorough in it's soul-less destruction.

 You can't say your heart sinks, as no feeling is left.

Once it is finished, only memories remain.

There is nothing that could have been done, nor anything to undo.

The sting will chill but family will always provide warmth.

Phone calls, gifts, donations, and most importantly time bring life back.

Most say, "It could have been worse" but it holds bitter truth.

Reclamation is underway before we blink and life continues on.

Gran-babies grow and family visit with hugs and cheer.

Though we all still feel it in the depths of our being,

More memories are made rather than re-created.

There is only one whom truly understands the purpose.

Our pain is real and understanding is impossible.

Faith and family remain intact. This alone keeps life accessible

"God is my Shepard, nothing shall I want."

For now, we rally the troops. We continue our traditions. We live.

This shall not win, nor kill our spirits, but rather bring us together.

We will continue to cry, and to laugh,

but now we do it together, as those that have shared, understand.

                                                                                                                                     

                                                                                                                           JL

To my dearest Aunt Karin and Uncle Al.

Stay Tuned

The Three Wise Men

I am starting to see a trend. When Nick, Ethan Shetler, and I get together, good things happen. Last Sunday, I was blessed by Rachel (Freedom) without a hitch, as my track record is sketchy. A smile, and have fun, and I was off. I hit all the good tunes on my way out there, even James Taylor joined me on my ride. This was a sign of good things to come. Once at Nick's we decided to get out and quit wasting daylight. We met the landowner in the driveway and ogled his new truck. We just took our sweet time in the woods this time. We soaked it all in. We enjoyed our cigars slowly and made our way up the other side of a ravine to get to a field. As we weaved our way through the raspberry, Nick freaked and dropped to his knees. Bone!

He got out his camera, but before he could even do so I started looking for the other side. I looked up and there it was in the bean field.

This was a beautiful matched set! Upon inspection we discovered Nick found this bucks matched set last year. He put on some inches but lost some non typical characteristics.

Awesome. We walked a awhile before making our way towards the river bottom where Nick and Ethan were going to do a coyote push for me. I plopped myself at the tree Ethan and Ned got there bucks and waited. I had my .17 with me and was looking to shoot. At this point a squirrel started barking at me from a towering cottonwood about 80 yards away. I texted Nick asking if it was kosher. "Go for it". One down. Another decided to get too close and another down. A match set and two squirrels. What a day.

We made our way back to Nick's where we collected the bows and targets and went to the prairie and pond. We spent the next two hours shooting aerial targets out back. This was another spectacular day on earth.
After my day in the field I cleaned my squirrels, and yes they do have backstraps for those that doubt, and I headed home to enjoy my meal. Rachel made the most spectacular baked mac and cheese and I sauteed my squirrel legs and backstraps in butter, roasted minced garlic, rosemary, sea salt, and chile powder. It was a hell of a lot better than I had expected. Meal of mac and cheese, squirrel, and salt and vinegar kettle chips. May not be the healthiest but damn it was good!


Stay Tuned